Fashion Week is about to end, we met up with Danish menswear brand HAN KJØBENHAVN as they were getting ready to show their new collection to the world.
Fashion Week is about to end. We met up with Danish menswear brand HAN KJØBENHAVN as they were getting ready to show their new collection to the world.
Known for their incredible shows which have thrilled fashionistas since 2011, HAN KJØBENHAVN is raising the bar this summer. Tonight the brand will present there upcoming collection “Bearhead Kingdom” in their first ever outdoor show. We dropped by the rehearsals with the lads behind the brand, Jannik Wikkelsø Davidsen & Tim Faith Hancock, to have a quick chat about how music inspires them and connects with fashion.
B&O PLAY: How does music and fashion connect?
Jannik: Both music and fashion are emotional and attached to people.
Tim: Music is a mood, an inspiration. We try to create not only fashion and apparel, but also fashion shows like tonight, where creativity and music connect the senses. We create a story and a mood through our shows.
B&O PLAY: How does music play a role in your design proces?
Jannik: Music is always important, cause we have different kinds of design processes. Sometimes our shows are created like a movie with a script and a lot of characters. So then we dress the models like movie characters and imagines a movie soundtrack that sets the whole tone for everything. Music becomes a starting point sometimes, and other times it’s good for later inspiration.
B&O PLAY: Do your designs reflect in the music?
Jannik: It depends on what our design alters in. We’ve done collections and shows that had very strong army references, and then of course you have the music dictating this. If the music comes before the creation, it dictates our show and design – and again, sometimes it’s the other way around.
Jannik: At HAN KJØBENHAVN, we don’t have a manual on how to do things. Sometimes music dictates and influence the whole theme of a collection, and other times it’s the last thing we put on to complement it.
Tim: We do not sit down and create a collection from a piece of music. But we create an environment from a theme that we agree upon, and then the music often comes in.
Jannik: Each collection and each show are created in different ways, and it needs to be an organic process to make a collection come alive.
B&O PLAY: How do you pick the music for your shows?
Jannik: For all our shows and films everything is custom made to the theme and idea behind it. Each piece of music we’ve created until now have been dark and moody.
B&O PLAY: What inspired this collection?
Tim: We called it “Bearhead Kingdom”, which is a subculture next to real life and real people. It has a mix of anything from uniform to skinheads – all sorts of niche groups you meet every day. We have a lot of references to the suburbs where we both grew up. As always, we’ve done a lot of focus on tailoring and fitting – and it’s all stuff that we both would wear.
Jannik: This collection doesn’t have a pinpoint reference. “Bearhead Kingdom” is a place, sort of a community, where unadapted people coexist with each other. This sort of community is the theme of our new collection – within that theme we have the army and punk references.
B&O PLAY: What inspired the scenography of tonights show?
Jannik: Right now we are sitting in the trailerpark of the “Bearhead Kingdom”. We’ve created this fictional campsite to bring the the collection alive.
B&O PLAY: You just opened a store in Paris. What’s next for HAN KJØBENHAVN?
Tim: We are looking at three different major locations. Whenever we look at locations, we like them to be interesting for us as persons and to have a PR value for our brand. Currently we are looking for locations in the States, in Asia and in various cities around Europe. We’ve learned the lesson that it always takes longer to find the right location than we initially think. And then there’s the whole process of building the store and getting the permits.
Jannik: It’s a big investment, so it has to be right. Location, square meters, atmosphere and etc. So many factors plays a part in these decisions. We have taken a few chances in the past, and still do. But we like to be well-prepared. HAN KJØBENHAVN wants to be in location that’s not too commercial without being too indie. We want that balance in between, and a lot of things are important in that process.
It takes one and a half to two years from the moment we decide to look for a place and until the store actually opens. The process is alive – LA is alive, and so is Tokyo and Hongkong. We’ll see what comes first.
Visit HAN KJØBENHAVN's Flagship Store in Copenhagen to Purchase B&O PLAY Products.
““we don’t have a manual on how to do things.””
